Governmental agencies that regulate commercial air flight have established regulations regarding the monitoring of oil consumption of gas turbine engine systems, and particularly those gas turbine engine systems that are used as auxiliary power units (APUs). More specifically, commercial aircraft operators are required to have an engine oil consumption monitoring program to ensure that there is enough oil to complete each ETOPS (Extended-range, Twin-engine, Operational Performance Standard) flight. The program needs to cover not only propulsion engines, but APUs if such are required for an ETOPS flight.
Presently, gas turbine engine system oil consumption is determined manually. For example, using data from hand-written log books and maintenance records, oil consumption may be determined from the amount of oil added to the gas turbine engine system divided by estimated engine operating time. Although this is generally reliable, it is less accurate than what is desired, and is potentially time-consuming.
Hence, there is a need for a relatively high-accuracy automated system and method for monitoring and reporting gas turbine engine system oil consumption. The present invention addresses at least this need.